Dawes Records

Enrollment Jackets
(Also known as Dawes Applications or Testimonial Packets)

Enrollment Jackets contain the application and supporting documents that the individual or family submitted to the Dawes Commission in order to be included on the Dawes Rolls.

Many researchers start their search by locating the
Dawes Census Card before seeking an Enrollment Jacket. From the Census Card note the following:

Tribe

Enrollment category

Name

Census Card number

These pieces of information will be found throughout the Enrollment Jacket. Matching these details will verify that you have located records for the same individual or family described on the
Census Card.

Enrollment Jackets can contain one to many pages. Start at the beginning of the folder and read each page carefully to understand the application and the Dawes Commission’s subsequent decision(s).

These individual documents are indexed and available online at Ancestry.com (database titled U.S., Native American Applications for Enrollment in Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914) and at Fold3.com (database titled Dawes Packets). Prior to digitization, these records were accessible via microfilm publication
M1301, Applications for Enrollment of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914.

Land Allotment Jackets

Land Allotment Jackets detail land given to approved members of the Five Civilized Tribes. Arranged by enrollment number (not Census Card number), these Jackets provide information on the legal description, value, physical improvements on the land, etc. They often include correspondence, plat maps, and testimony involving the land.

The applicant's name, Dawes Census Card number, and other family identifiers can be found throughout the Jacket to verify that you have located the same individual or family between the records.

These records were not microfilmed prior to digitization. They are available for free on
FamilySearch.org (database titled Oklahoma Applications for Allotment, Five Civilized Tribes); the digitized copy of these records on Familysearch are not currently indexed. You will need to select the tribe/category, and enrollment number range, then "scroll" through the records until you find the folder that starts the land allotment jacket you are seeking. In addition, these records, as well an index, are also available via Ancestry.com (database titled Oklahoma and Indian Territory, Land Allotment Jackets for Five Civilized Tribes, 1884-1934).

Dawes Allotment Maps for the Five Civilized Tribes

Search the legal description of land in Indian Territory in the National Archives Catalog for printed colored maps that identify allotments, townsites, and railway rights of way. All maps in this series have been digitized and are accessible through the National Archives Catalog via
National Archives Identifier 652462.Within the description click on the blue hyperlink listing the 871 items that have been digitized.

Land Allotments Defined:

The Dawes Commission only issued land allotments to approved individuals or family members.

"To each head of a family, one-quarter of a section; To each single person over eighteen years of age, one-eighth of a section; To each orphan child under eighteen years of age, one-eighth of a section; and To each other single person under eighteen years now living, or who may be born prior to the date of the order of the President directing an allotment of the lands embraced in any reservation, one-sixteenth of a section..."